gorge

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The front aspect of the neck; the outside of the throat.

   His gall did grate for griefe and high diſdaine, And knitting all his force got one hand free, Wherewith he grypt her gorge with ſo great paine, That ſoone to looſe her wicked bands did her co[n]ſtraine.

2. 2
   noun

   The inside of the throat; the esophagus, the gullet; (falconry, specifically) the crop or gizzard of a hawk.

   I wil tel you, Scholer, that unleſs the hook be faſt in his [the trout's] very Gorge, he wil live, and a little time with the help of the water, wil ruſt the hook, & it wil in time wear away as the gravel does in the horſe hoof, which only leaves a falſe quarter.

3. 3
   noun

   Food that has been taken into the gullet or the stomach, particularly if it is regurgitated or vomited out.

   My gorge rises at the sight of it.

4. 4
   noun

   A choking or filling of a channel or passage by an obstruction; the obstruction itself.

   an ice gorge in a river

5. 5
   noun

   A concave moulding; a cavetto.

   GORGE, Gula, in architecture, the narroweſt part of Tuſcan and Doric capitals, lying between the aſtragal, above the ſhaft of the pillar and the annulets. […] It is alſo uſed for a concave moulding, larger, but not ſo deep as a ſcotia, which ſerves for compartments, &c.

6. 6
   noun

   The rearward side of an outwork, a bastion, or a fort, often open, or not protected against artillery; a narrow entry passage into the outwork of an enclosed fortification.

   Half Moon. An Outwork conſiſting of two Faces, which makes an Angle Salient, the Gorge whereof bends in like a Bow, or Creſcent, and were formerly us'd to cover the Point of a Baſtion, which diſtinguiſhes them from Ravelins, always plac'd before the Curtin; […]

7. 7
   noun

   A primitive device used instead of a hook to catch fish, consisting of an object that is easy to swallow but difficult to eject or loosen, such as a piece of bone or stone pointed at each end and attached in the middle to a line.

   Hooks of willow wood or bone (often from wishbone) and copper gorges (thin bipointed rods with a fishline attachment in the middle) could be baited with fish scrap or meat.

8. 8
   noun

   A deep, narrow passage with steep, rocky sides, particularly one with a stream running through it; a ravine.

   It is moreover certain that for eight or nine months of the year, the great rivers rush from their gorges into the mountains as torrents of clear water, or only, in the hot months, discoloured by fine glacial mud; […]

Etymology

From Middle English gorge (“esophagus, gullet; throat; bird's crop; food in a hawk's crop; food or drink that has been eaten”), a borrowing from Old French gorge (“throat”) (modern French gorge (“throat; breast”)), from Vulgar Latin *gorga, *gurga, from Latin gurges (“eddy, whirlpool; gulf; sea”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour, swallow; to eat”). The English word is cognate with Galician gorxa (“throat”), Italian gorga, gorgia (“gorge, ravine; (obsolete) throat”), Occitan gorga, gorja, Portuguese gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”), Spanish gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”).…